I think it is important that we have guidelines and standards. The National
Genealogical Society has an excellent website that provides
guidelines. www.ngsgenealogy.org
When accepting information from others we may find it meets standards of good
research or we may find it is not documented and may not be accurate. If we
proceed on undocumented information we may find we have spent many hours,
days, months or even years researching the wrong family.
When providing information to others does our information meet standards.
Have we fully documented our sources [this does not mean we list only
researched by- we need to provide complete source information the same as for
a college research paper]. The person we are providing the information to
should be able to go to the original information we found and verify our
information. Why make someone wonder "Where did she get that information" or
"How did he come up with that" If you are going to share the information,
share the complete documentation as well.
I am thankful to the many angels on GenWeb sites that have transcribed the
many original records and placed them on the internet for our use.
It is a great help to know which census is the one we will need to find our
ancestor; which courthouse or health department we need to write or visit;
the cemetery where we will find that ancestor buried. This is all very useful
information. There are many volunteers that have spent untold hours
providing us with this information. One of my favorite things is reading the
biographies that have been placed online. When I have been able to find
County Histories to purchase I have but they can be quite pricey.
When I started researching over twenty years ago I am sure I would have had
greater success in a lot shorter time if I had all the helpful information
that is available today. Attending National Conferences or purchasing tapes
of Conference lectures is a great way to learn. Here in Indy we have been
fortunate to have National Speakers at conferences here or in not too distant
cities.
If you haven't looked at the NGS site, please do. You may find you can be
proud of yourself because you are doing everything right. Some of you may
see something that gives you a clue to why you have had difficulty in the
past. Like me you may find it is a good refresher course to keep you on the
right track.
Bev